Saturday Night Fun - Define Pop Festival3

There are certain moments that define your life, it's the little things that tend to stick with you. One such moment for me was the last Define Pop festival at the Flying Duck, yes I got drunk, saw lots of great bands and danced like a total fanny (there is video evidence of this, but I'll be fucked if I am going to actively share it with you). More importantly for me it was a day were I got to meet and make friends with a lot of great people. If I hadn't been there, then I am pretty sure that I wouldn't know half of the folk that I do now. I guess to a certain extent that if I hadn't been there I wouldn't be doing half the things I am now, if it wasn't for Define Pop.
If that doesn't sell Define Pop 3 to you this Saturday (the 13th of November), then I guess I should also point out that Wull who organises it has got a cracking wee line up in store for this years festival. Here's what he's announced so far...

Tango In The Attic,
Suspire,
Trapped In Kansas,
The Machine Room, Epic 26,
The Ghosties,
Aspen Tide,
So Many Animal Calls,
Little Yellow Ukuleles,
Campfires In Winter,
I Build Collapsible Mountains,
The Hundred Metre Club,
Keep It Secret,
Indigo Central
With more acts still to be announced!

The festival is spread over three venues, Pivo Pivo, Stereo and The Admiral, tickets are only £7, which allows you to move from venue to venue. You can buy tickets from Define Pop Big Cartel and through Ticket Scotland. Last year was awesome fun, this year promises to be the same.

Tango In The Attic - Off To...
Trapped In Kansas - Our Bodies On Fire
Aspen Tide - Colours
So Many Animal Calls - We Can Sleep Back To Back
Little Yellow Ukuleles - Discopants
Campfires In Winter - They Looked Just Like Fallen Leaves
I Build Collapsible Mountains - Rails

Weekly Round Up (11/07/10)

Monday - The Recovery Club provided some very tasty Fresh Meat
Tuesday - Erland and the Carnivals Radio Scotland session
Wednesday - Cancel the Astronauts became the newest entry into the much coveted (or perhaps not) Scots Way-Hay club
Thursday - Be Like Pablo were in doing a wee session for the Vicmeister, plus I had an exclusive Track By Track run through of the fabulous new Mitchell Museum album 'The Peters Port Memorial Service'
Friday - I had a veritable feast of freebies this week, including great stuff from I Build Collapsible Mountains, q without u, dems, the A Forest, Bear Driver, Cults and a late entry from So Many Animal Calls
Saturday - We've Got It Covered #9 saw Peenko favourites we're only afraid of NYC taking on Tom Waits 'Fannin Street', quite stunning it is too.



News, gigs and any other gubbins......

It's shameless I know, but hey I don't care this is my blog, if me and Jim and are putting on a gig and we want to plug it I bloody well will. Next Saturday heralds the second 'Ayetunes vs Peenko' gig. It's going to be fucking amazing. Fact. No question here kids, I appreciate that it's the middle of summer, but fuck it there's nothing that's quite going to match up to what we have lined up next weekend's Ayetunes vs Peenko 2.
we're only afraid of NYC, Randolph's Leap and Little Yellow Ukueleles, bit of an eclectic bill isn't it. It most certainly is, there are only two daft twats out there in Glasgow/Paisley stupid enough/brave enough to put such a line up together. Personally I am excited as fuck, even if you're not, you will soon understand why the pair of us are after seeing what we have instore for you all. Did I just rant at you lot? Were you listening? If you were, sorry kids. If you weren't FFS pay attention kids. I guess I'll see you next Saturday, I'll be the bearded muppet with the cheesy ass grin.



In other news Mitchell Museum (we like them), launched their debut album tomorrow on Vinyl and Download, apparently a CD will be released later in the year. Am I the only person that still buys CD's? I know everyone loves their vinyl, but it just isn't for me I'm afraid. Bugger I'm rambling again. Aye, so they have a 'secret' album launch night on Wednesday, not sure if you can still blag an invite to that, you'll have to contact the band to find out. I still haven't gotten to the point of what I was trying to say, which is that they're doing an instore gig at Fopp on Wednesday afternoon or so Jim Ayetunes tells me. Check their website/Fopp's website, not my blog for details.

There are still tickets left for ScotT Hutchison gig at Stereo this Tuesday, for only a fiver you can catch plus the Frightened Rabbit frontman playing alongside Ross Clark (Three Blind Wolves) and Jonny Sellar (My Cousin I Bid You Farewell). They will all be performing solo sets in aid of the charity A-T Society. Tickets are on sale here.

Frightened Rabbit - Nothing Like You (Live at T in the Park 2010)

Presenting: Ayetunes vs Peenko 2

As some of you might have already spotted, me and my good friend Jim 'Ayetunes' have decided to put on our second gig night together. Seeing as it was so much fun at the first one, we couldn't not have another go at it. This time we're relocating the venue to The 13th Note, not that we didn't like the Captains Rest, but we weren't too keen on sitting at the top of the stairs while you lot all enjoyed yourselves. We're selfish like that.
You might have noticed that this time 'Ayetunes' comes first, that was purely done to stop Jim from crying. He's a sensitive young soul. Anyway, as you can probably see from our ever so pretty poster, we have three cracking bands lined up for Saturday the 17th of July, We're Only Afraid of NYC, Randolph's Leap and Little Yellow Ukuleles.

I'm honestly chuffed to bits with that line up, We're Only Afraid of NYC were one of the bands I first featured when I started my Scots Way-Hay posts. Jim and I have both been big fans for a while now, we actually tried to get them for our first gig, so we're pretty excited to have finally got them. Randolph's Leap are a band that I only really came across a month or so ago, they caught me completely off guard. Having been so impressed by their gig up at last months GoNorth festival, I drunkenly ambled up to their lead singer Adam after their set to see if they'd consider playing at our gig. Just like the man from Del Monti, he said "yes".
Completing the bill are Glasgow indie-pop quartet, Little Yellow Ukuleles, a band that I have seen quite a few times in this past year. Every time they've put a massive grin on my face, and in my book that's the sign of a great live band.
I really think we have something pretty special lined up for this one, these aren't necessarily bands that you might expect to see on the same bill, but I think the variation makes it all the more fun. There is another reason for us going for the bands that we have, all three of these bands have had the bottle to put their music out their for free on their respective Bandcamp pages. In this day and age I think this is quite a bold step, but also a necessity to get your music heard. Jim and I both respect this, these guys are out there making amazing music and not asking for anything in return. It's about time that we showed these guys some respect in return, come down and support these three amazing Scottish acts, I promise you won't regret it.

We're Only Afraid of NYC Bandcamp
Randolph's Leap Bandcamp
Little Yellow Ukuleles Bandcamp


Tickets for the second 'Ayetunes vs Peenko' gig are on sale now, you can pre-order your tickets over on my Big Cartel page. They're priced at £5, there's no postage or booking fees or any other dreamed up ways for us to fleece money from you. If you are planning on coming along, please note that we had to turn quite a few folk away at our last gig, so you might be advised to get your tickets in advance. I look forward to seeing some of you there, it's going to be a top night!

We're Only Afraid of NYC - With Bullets

Randolph's Leap - Squeamish

Little Yellow Ukuleles - Discopants

BUY TICKETS

Weekly Round Up (20/06/10)

Monday - this weeks Fresh Meat Monday were Ming Ming and The Ching Chings, shite name, great band
Tuesday - I wrote my epically long review of my time up at goNorth,
Wednesday - The Lava Experiments became the 20th entry into the Scots Way Hay club
Thursday - nowt happened as I got invited along to the launch of Tennents new marketing campaign. Still not entirely certain as to why they asked me, but hey I'm not one to turn down a freebie. Having turned up knowing not a soul, I managed to find a friendly face in Chris from The Daily Dose and proceeded to milk the free bar dry. This later lead to me turning up at the JD Set in a rather merry state and sporting a top hat. It ended with me telling Jim Ayetunes about how I wanted to kill a seagull. I shouldn't be allowed out in public.
Friday - it's Freebies time, this week we had some corking Scottish bands giving away free stuff, including Mitchell Museum, Aerials Up, Ghost Pants, The Vaselines and Healthy Minds Collapse. There were also some live recordings from Rockness, which included some pretty interesting covers and lastly, there was Frightened Rabbit's World Cafe session.
Saturday - Mitchell Museum were this weeks 'We've Got It Covered' stars, with their interpretation of MIA's Paper Planes. Plus there was the added bonus of Any Color Black's session for Leith FM


News, gigs and any other gubbins......

For any of you that follow me on Twitter or saw Jim Ayetune's Facebook last night, we are pleased to announce that 'Ayetunes vs Peenko' is back for a second outing in July. It's going to take place at the 13th Note on Saturday the 17th with we're only afraid of NYC, Little Yellow Ukuleles and Randolph's Leap. Ticket details and the like are still to be confirmed, we just wanted to get it announced. So get it pencilled in your diaries, it's going to be a cracking night.

Next weekend sees the introuduction of new Scottish Music Festival called Solas Festival. It takes place over in Biggar, and it has a fair few cracking bands from this neck of the woods. The lineup looks something like this....

Friday - Iain Morrison, FOUND, The Starlets, Findlay Napier & the Bar Room Mountaineers, Esther O'Connor, The Homecoming String Band with more bands still to be announced.
Saturday - McIntosh Ross, Jo Mango, We See Lights, Juliet Turner, Theatre – Scaramouche Jones, The Lowly Knights, Alex Cornish, Old Solar, Calamateur, Andy Thornton, Yvonne Lyon, Sol, The Merchants, Suplex the Kid, Brian McGlynn, Augusta Fireball, Paul Shevlin and Hannah Kitchen
Sunday - Peatbog Faeries, Mr McFall’s Chamber, Stanley Odd, Kitty the Lion, Monica Queen & Thrum, Blueflint, Three Blind Wolves, Kim Edgar, Fair Witness, The Russian Choir, Easy Tigers, Michael McLennan, The Lonely Oatcake, Adam Stearns, Rory Butler and Jamie Wilson

If that sounds like it would be something of interest to you, then you can find out more about the festival over on their homepage or alternatively, you can check out their blogspot.

If you live in Edinburgh, and you have no plans for next Saturday night (26th), then might I suggest you head down to the Roxy Arthouse to catch Fiona Soe Paing who is playing at the Roxy as part of a night entitled 'Is This A Test'. Having caught her at GoNorth just last week, she defo gets the Peenko seal of approval Admission for the Video Lounge part is free, £5 (£3 advance from artists) for performances in the Roxy Room. For further information contact: colliderscope@gmail.com

If you are still a bit gutted at missing out on tickets for the Fence Collectives Away Game, then this might bring a little consolation. The East Neuk label have to announced that they are having their own new summer festival in Anstruther. It's called Haarfest and it runs from Monday 16th to Saturday 21st of August. It's being held in the Hew Scott Hall from Monday to Thursday, and then moving to the Cellardyke Town Hall for the Friday and Saturday. A ticket for the whole week, which you access to everything, will set you back £50. With individual tickets priced at just £12.50 per evening show (with concessions for U12s if their licence allows, U7s free). Here's the line up in full.....

Mon 16th - Admiral Fallow, Adem, Silver Columns.
Tue 17th - The Oates Field, Inspector Tapehead, The Pictish Trail's "Bit Of Strange".
Wed 18th - Onthefly, Seamus Fogarty, Eagleowl.
Thu 19th - Lonepigeon, Pip Dylan, HMS Ginafore, Gummi Bako.
Fri 20th - FOUND, Withered Hand, Meursault
Sat 21st - King Creosote, Kid Canaveral, Smackvan.

You can buy tickets for the event here.


It's the end of the month, which means that it's Pin Up Nights time. This coming Friday they have yet another belter of a night planned, playing live they have Foxgang, Little Yellow Ukuleles and Casino Brag. With DJ-sets from Pooch, Ace City Racers and Mitchell Museum.
On top of all this action they've decided to offer up a special offer reduced entry for their Facebook and Mailing list chums. On the night they're running a £3 guest list, with the usual £5 entry on the door. To get yourself and any of your pals on the £3 guest list all you have to do is send a Facebook message or Email to Pin Up Nights with all the names you want added to the list before midnight on 24th June. You gotta love those kids.


Also taking place on Friday (25th) is a very special show by the Noise Abatement Society. Taking place at a secret venue, it features a cracking wee line up, Yahweh, The Japanese War Effort, Field Mouse and RM Hubbert. Tickets are very limited and will only set you back £4, if you're quick off the mark then you might still be able to buy one here.

Friday Freebies

This weeks Friday Freebies might seem a bit rushed, this is due to a major fuck up and all of the content being wiped, so this is me quickly trying to re-post everything I've found this week......

Tokyo Police Club
Give them your email address and they'll send you a new song. 'Breakneck Speed' which is taken from their forthcoming album 'Champ'.

Campfires in Winter
If you haven't heard of these guys before then now is the time to do some catching up, their live set for the Glasgow Podcart first birthday bash is up for free download here.

Oliver Stays
If you were paying attention then you might remember I ran a wee feature on these guys back in February, if you missed or you liked what you heard at the time then get downloading their new song 'The Unevolved'. All you have to do is sign up to their mailing list.

Dr Dog
Their new record 'Shame, Shame' is due out in June, I've been looking forward to it for a while now, so I was quite chuffed to find out that they were giving away new song 'Stranger'.

BRAHMS
The latest band from NYC to be hyped before they've barely started, this is one for all you scenesters out there. Whether they'll be the new Vampire Weekend or perhaps follow the Black Kids into obscurity is still not clear, still though you can claim to have heard them first by downloading these four demos.

La Shark
The London band have a free download of their song '1958' which is available in exchange for your email address.

Little Yellow Ukuleles
Their song 'Discopants' has been one of my favourite freebies so far this year, there are now a couple of other tracks up for free download on their Bandcamp page just now. Check em.

Snowden
The American band have a new EP available for free download, all you need to do is give them your email address and a postcode and hey presto you have yet another freebie.

Kowalskiys Komplimentary Korner

Moonface
What with Spencer Krug and the Wolf Parade mob coming to Glasgow in May, here's an EP
(well really just one 20 minute song!) from his new solo "Moonface" project. It's called
"Dreamland EP: marimba and shit-drums".

Community Service #3 - Glasgow Podcart

I first came across the Glasgow Podcart after Boab introduced me to Sean and Halina at a Yahweh and applesofenergy gig last year. Due to the consumption of a few cans of the finest Red Stripe, my memories of that evening are a bit blurry, I do remember being bowled over about how passionate they both were about music and what they wanted to do with the Podcart. My other memory is of rambling utter shit at Sean for quite a long time, I still cringe when I recall that moment. The following day, I was hungover in work and I had my first listen to an episode of the Podcart. Since that day it's become part of my weekly routine, although I did have to stop listening to it on public transport as I kept getting odd looks when I started pissing myself laughing. I think the most fun thing about the Podcart is listening to what gems they've unearthed this week combined with some piss funny 'banter'. It really does make for a great combination. If you want to find out why I will never be able to drink Irn Bru out of a glass bottle ever again, or the truth behind who was 'Pumped in Venice', then get listening boys and girls. Today is the Podcarts first birthday, as part of the celebrations of this milestone, they're having a wee shindig at the 13th Note tonight. The lineup for the evening boasts three of the finest unsigned Scottish acts about at the moment, Little Yellow Ukuleles, Campfires in Winter and St. Deluxe. Entry is free and it all kicks off around 8pm tonight, it should be a belter of an evening.
Now I'll pass you over to Halina, the Queen Bee of the Podcart-Crew to explain to you in her own words what the Glasgow Podcart is all about and what they have up their sleeve in 2010.....

In your own words describe what Glasgow Podcart is
This answer changes everytime! Glasgow Podcart is a media platform and networking community for musicians, artists, photographers and now writers and film makers. We produce weekly podcasts as well as specialist live sessions. The idea is to enable people to push their ideas forward in a way and create a voice for them. Ultimately, we want people to be seen and heard in a different way.

Please introduce the Podcart team
There is Sean McCann our specialist recording and filming expert and also a talented writer, Ally Burton who is a brilliant photographer and writer, Will McNeilly who is based in Belfast and our graphic designer, web designer all round talented Mr nice guy, Paddy Duke who also with Will does the weekly artwork on the website for our podcasts, Nicola Blair who is now working closely with Sean on recording and filming projects, Louise Cochrane who is a design student also from Northern Ireland. We have 2 new recruits! Iona Bruce and Sophie Stubbs both of whom have very strong arts backgrounds and will be raising the profile of our arts section quite substantially. Finally there is myself, Halina. I with Sean do a lot of the decision making and mainly content on the website.

What was it that motivated you to start doing a weekly Podcast?
I have always been a music fan but mainstream radio was infuriating me. Being subjected to artists that were created through the vision of a record company mogul as opposed to organic musicians I was listening to was very frustrating. There is of course BBC Radio 6 however, which I must point out is a God send! Everyone always says instead of moaning try and change things so that was the idea. We knew about podcasts briefly and I had noticed an increase in digital listening as well as the decline in Radio listeners. We wanted to do things a bit different though and incorporate other art platforms as well.

What would you say has been the best thing to happen since you started it?
Some would immediately presume me saying Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai and by God that really was a highlight but ultimately I think the relationships we have made. Of course it is natural to be competitive about things sometimes but I suppose it is more the networks we have established. I see all the people we have introduced and some of whom have gone on to work closely together or spawn other projects. It's pretty special.

How difficult is it to find so many new and exciting bands each week?
I think there is a misconception that people think we love everything we listen to. This isn't the case. People have to remember how many people there are in the team and we all have very diverse taste and if someone likes something then so be it we will play it. I will let you into a little secret though if someone is somewhat quiet when the song is played it generally isn't their cup of tea! (I am going to get killed for exposing that haha). I often spend time trawling through myspace friends listening to artists and this is the way I have found most of them. Obviously there is word of mouth and blogs such as yourself and others but I get more satisfaction actually spending time just listening. Some weeks I do find that I listen to several artists in a row that I just have to switch off but generally we have been very lucky.

For you personally what artist/band has excited you most over the past 12 months?
I think in all honesty it is between And So I Watch You From Afar and Panda Su. ASIWYFA are one if not the best live act I have ever seen and their energy is unbelievable. Panda Su is one of the most intriguing young women in music I have had the pleasure of coming across. She wears her heart on her guitar and has often provided a comfort blanket for my emotions with her music. I really think great things are going to happen for her.

For all the folk out there that haven’t heard an episode of the Glasgow Podcart, why should they give you a listen?
We are honest. First and foremost. Just imagine Friday night round your friends with a few beers and you sit and listen to some music and talk about the gigs you have been to and the artists you are listening to that week. It's not scripted and yeah I am going to say it is pretty funny as well.

Lastly, what can we expect to see/hear from Glasgow Podcart this year?
Well! I don't really want to say much as we are going to keep our cards very close to our chest this year but we have some very interesting live things coming up, podcasts from a couple of festivals and a brand new website! The 2 ladies we have taken on for our art side also have some extremely exciting art's ideas that people are going to be happily surprised by. We will of course give Peenko news before these things happen as we love him (Peenko - stop it your making me blush).


Glasgow Podcart

Friday Freebies

Too Many Fireworks
Neil Milton is reviving his label 'Too Many Fireworks', woo to the mother fucking hoo! The double bonus is that if you sign up to the labels mailing list you'll get an eight track too many fireworks sampler download in exchange for free. It's worth it just to hear some Flying Matchstick Men again. Go on, do it, do it now.

The Wildhouse
Edinburgh blogger Ed is just about to put out his first album release by the Dundee band The Wildhouse on his 17Seconds Label. In celebration of this forthcoming release he's put up some free MP3's from the album. Download them here.

Run/Lucky/Free
The Edinburgh band are offering up some 'free downloads, free video acoustic sessions and more'. All you have to do is sign up their mailing list here.

Galleries
Tipped by the Pop Cop as one of his one's to watch in 2010, find out if he's uncovered another diamond by downloading their debut EP completely free here.

To Rococo Rot
In celebration of the release of their new album 'Speculation' , the Berlin based post-rockers are giving away a free MP3 download of new song "Working Against Time"

Caribou
The Canadian electronic musician, Daniel Victor Snaith aka 'Carbou', returns with a new album Swim on the 19th of April. In anticipation of this release he's put up a new song for you to download Just sign up to his mailing list and you'll get yourself a free download of 'Odessa'.

Peter Broderick
The Portland singer/songwriter has put a whole host of demos and outtakes up for free download, strangely they're available to download from Flickr of all places.

Any Color Black
The Glasgow Electro rock duo have put up a free download of 'Start a Fire' for your aural pleasure. If it tickles your fancy then you can get even more MP3's by signing up their mailing list.

Annie Accidental
The Glaswegian lassie has put a free download of her song 'S.A.D.' to down load for free here. It's twee as fuck and it sounds amazing, the perfect song to see you through till normal hours of daylight return.

Little Yellow Ukuleles
Up and coming Weegie powerpop starlets 'the Yook' have put a free download of 'Discopants' on their Bandcamp.

Plum
The lovely Edinburgh electornica lady Plum has put her ode to the bard, 'Ae Fond Kiss' up for free download on her blog. Download yourself a copy here.

Pacific Theatre
Another Glasgow powerpop band amking waves are Pacific Theatre, who have put a free download of their song, 'Far Away' up on their Bandcamp.

Yeasayer
Apparently the new album, 'Odd Blood', is very good, haven't heard it myself yet so I can't comment. However, I can tell you that they have have put the second single from the album, 'ONE', available as a free download on their website.